My Oxygen
by Stigmatized
Summary: Remus has a recurring nightmare. Every night he wakes up in a cold sweat. Tonight, though, someone else woke up before him because of similar troubles. SiriusRemus slash and fluffly drabble.


Title: My Oxygen

Author: Stigmatized

Summary: Remus has a recurring nightmare. Every night he wakes up in a cold sweat. Tonight, though, someone else woke up before him because of similar troubles. Sirius/Remus slash and fluffly drabble.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me. The books and all it's characters belong to the genius that is JK Rowling. No money is being made from this and it has been written purely for my amusement.

A/N: A strange little ficcy about Remus' recurring dreams. Set any time in their last two years at Hogwarts. 

This was inspired (oddly enough) when I was bored and my Internet was buggered. I settled for simply sitting and watching the visualisation on the Media Player on my PC. Whilst listening to Train; REM; The Proclaimers; Men At Work; Reel Big Fish and Aerosmith. Oh, and Burt Bacharach. Enough with my havering and on with the (extremely short and crappy) story! And I apologise for the extremely cheesy and cliché title. *Blushes and studies feet*

***

Ah, to sleep, a chance to dream. 

Not a chance Remus Lupin was particularly looking forward to, not when dreams are something you _really_ don't want to have. But that doesn't matter, because he was asleep already. Yes, he didn't exactly relish his dreams, but it was pretty damned hard to stay awake and avoid falling asleep in the middle of class. He _would_ prefer to stay awake forever… but that was pretty near impossible. So he thought he might as well get it over with. 

On the contrary, it appears to be pretty damned hard to stay _asleep_ when all you can dream of is you hurtling down a great tunnel of swirling, glowing plasma. With parts of the slimy thing grabbing your limbs as different parts of the… _thing_ keep replaying the horrible events of your life like a giant multiplex showing all the films in one room. A room that seemed to be moving very quickly, or that you seemed to be moving very quickly through and that didn't seem to have an end or an exit.

This is what Remus dreamed every night. Everywhere he looked he relived his bite, his mother's death and lying in a hospital bed with no company except burning injuries all over his body… Occasionally he would see what looked like a large shadow flying along just ahead of him and some of the memories turned… well, nice. But that didn't happen very often, so it isn't really worth mentioning.

He felt a sharp, stabbing pain at his ribs as he passed a screen showing the wolf attacking him, sinking it's teeth in to infect him with the disease that ruled his life now, the blood pouring from the wound.

Others he passed seemed to show every single one of his transformations as he felt every one of his bones rearranging themselves inside his skin. He was unable to stop a tear rolling down his cheek as the large shadow passed overhead. He realised it was in the shape of a dog. 

__

"We know what you are, Remus. We want to help." A new voice said from his left. Or was it his right? His vision was drawn to it, anyway. A small smile was gracing his friend's lips. He remembered that one statement clearly and warmly. He felt a light pressure around his waist as he hurtled down the brightly coloured space he had come to know as hell. The black dog jumped down and landed on his lap, licking his nose gently. Remus was confused.

What had happened to most of the awful memories? This dog was so familiar; the identity was right on the tip of his tongue but he just _couldn't_ remember. The pressure on his waist contracted as he cried out, passing a screen showing the mad-eyed wolf as it leapt on his mother… the woman's body falling on top of him with wide, unblinking hazel eyes and the tiny detail of every drop of blood that exited depicted with painful accuracy.

"Shh. Come on Remus, wake up." He heard a voice whisper in his ear. He turned around at the feeling of something pressing against his temple and saw Sirius sitting with a pained expression with an arm curled behind his waist. Padfoot! The name sprang into his mind. The dog was Sirius! All the screens were now showing only two faces: his and Sirius's. Suddenly the tunnel disappeared, as did Padfoot, but Sirius and the delicious pressure at his waist and temple were still there.

"Sirius?" He murmured as he awoke, eyes opening tiredly. He noticed he was wet, drenched in a cold sweat. It was all too familiar to him. It happened every night, but tonight the pain that usually constricted his heart was gone. The organ gave a definite leap as his stomach jumped as the scent that was definitely Sirius reached his nose and he realised the closeness of the boy. Sirius's grip on him tightened slightly and he buried his face into Remus' hair.

"You scared me." Sirius whispered, inhaling Remus' distinctive aroma that seemed to Sirius like a mixture of everything wonderful. Fleetingly Remus thought that this wasn't a bad way to wake up from a bad dream.

"I had a nightmare." He admitted in a small whisper. Sirius gave a dry chuckle, still clutching Remus tightly.

"It's okay, Moony. It's over now, it won't hurt you." Remus sniffed, trying to hold back tears.

"I always have it," he continued in a hoarse whisper, "The same one." His voice wavered as he spoke.

"You don't have to tell me about it." Sirius whispered into his ear, his cheek still pressed to Remus' temple. Remus could feel the warm drops fall into his hair, but why was Sirius crying over him? He gulped and turned around, snuggling his head into the crook between Sirius's neck and shoulder, relaxing at the feeling of Sirius stroking his hair. 

"I'm sorry I'm so weak." He whispered into the flesh that he never thought he'd be permitted to touch, but was too tired and distressed to know what he was doing. Sirius took in a sharp breath and shook his head, pressing his lips to Remus' forehead.

"You're never weak, Re, don't say that. You're the strongest person I know. Don't apologise for your dreams." His voice was oddly broken and Remus started to wonder if Sirius had just woken up from a nightmare himself. He had certainly noticed the teen struggle in his sleep as he had tried to resist his drooping eyelids before. Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist tightly, still not looking up from the tanned flesh of his neck.

"You've had one too, haven't you?" He felt Sirius tense briefly before he felt the boy nod. He nuzzled Sirius's neck as his mind started to slowly fade back into use. His heart started to beat faster. He was cuddling with Sirius in the middle of the night.

"Are you feeling better?" Sirius whispered into his ear. He nodded, pulling away from the gentle embrace, knowing that he was ruining his chances. He looked into Sirius's face for the first time and saw the tracks of dried tears trailing down the bronze cheeks. He gulped and cupped Sirius's face, rubbing the marks off with the pad of his thumb, never breaking eye contact. He realised that Sirius had pulled him into his lap while he was sleeping and was suddenly thankful for the darkness that hid his blush.

"Much." He breathed. He closed his eyes gently and moved forward, covering the small gap between them to press his lips against Sirius's chastely, pulling away quickly. Sirius didn't let go of him, but the arms that were still locked around his waist tightened as he was pulled in for another kiss.

And suddenly he forgot the nightmare, he forgot the memories, he forgot the room, he forgot the bed, he forgot air right after he realised he didn't need it. He had found a better substitute. As he forgot everything but the feeling of Sirius's lips on his, one thought fluttered through his mind:

__

He's my oxygen. 

***

A/N: A small sprinkling of angst topped with a truckload of fluff! Just the way I like it! I don't know, but I think I could have done better with that. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out considering it was written in less than an hour with my cat trying to catch the letters as they appeared on the screen *grumbles*. Again I apologise for the cliché-ness, and sorry if I got the quote at the beginning wrong. Again, written in less than an hour with feline interruptions. Well, review? Please? Free Moony plushie to anyone that does! ^_^

Stigma


End file.
